Tea Smoked Salmon

As the name suggests, smoking salmon does produce a lot of smoke, so be sure to keep your kitchen well ventilated and prepare for your smoke alarm to start shrieking!
It is worth it though, the flavour and aroma of tea adds an interesting and delicious depth to smoked salmon, and you can try different teas for different twists on the dish.
This recipe serves 4, but you can divide up the ingredients as you need to for less or more portions.
This method of smoking also works really well with chicken and duck breasts or lamb or beef steaks and you can try out a number of different teas for different flavours.

Tea Used

Preparation

Season the salmon with a sprinkling of salt and drizzle them with a little oil.

In a bowl add the rice and sugar and cut open the teabags and empty contents into the bowl and mix together. This is the smoking mixture.

Double-line a large lidded saucepan with kitchen foil, including the sides and press the foil down towards the corners. Don’t use a non-stick pan, not only is it not necessary but it could be ruined if the foil were to split allowing the smoking mixture to escape.

Pour in the smoking mixture and place another double piece of foil on top of that, large enough to support the salmon, but not that large that it completely fills the pan. It’s important that the salmon doesn’t directly contact the smoking mixture.

Arrange the salmon fillets side by side without actually touching other.

Place the lid on the pan and place on the heat. When it starts to smoke reduce the heat a little so that it continues to smoke.

Smoke for 8-12 minutes, or maybe a little longer depending on the size of the fillets.

When finished, the fish should be quite dark and look cooked, the colour somewhat varying with smoking time and the tea and sugar used.

Remove the salmon carefully and place on plates. Serve immediately with boiled potatoes and vegetables of choice.